Double Dare
by HiddenInTheTardis
Summary: Ten and Rose discover the joy of childish challenges and begin an epic game of one-upmanship. K for now.


Double Dare

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the characters or properties therein.

Chapter One: The Supernova

Travelling with the Doctor was an astonishing, confounding, breathtaking experience, and Rose Tyler considered herself the luckiest girl in the Universe for being given the opportunity. Her travels with the Time Lord had exposed her to both the hardships and wonders of life, to death and birth, sorrow and joy, hate and love. She had seen so many lives fade and pass, so many lives not lived, loves not loved, dreams undreamed. All of this had solidified a determination in her heart – she would live her life to the full, she would treasure every moment of her amazing life, and do everything she had ever wanted to do.

She pondered this determination of hers with annoyance as she sat in the captain's chair, feet up on the console, bored to tears as the Doctor peered for the fiftieth time into the sensor monitor, his nose almost touching the screen. Rose sighed, blowing her hair up out of her face.

"There's something missing here," she told him.

"Hmm?" He did not look up.

"I'm sure this amazing machine is supposed to be able to _travel_," Rose said in an exasperated tone.

"You know she can." The Doctor wandered to the other side of the console and pulled a green lever, then went back to check the screen.

Rose threw her head back in frustration. "Exactly. So why are we still here? We've been here _forever_. I'm sure if there's no need to know exactly how this stupid thing works."

She gestured towards the open door, where an enormous orange sun could be seen, pulling in debris from all around, emitting spectacular blasts of violet and indigo light.

The Doctor finally looked up at her, with a questioning expression behind his glasses.

"Rose, this 'stupid thing' is unprecedented. This star is acting like a yellow dwarf, a supernova and a black hole all at the same time. I need to know how this works!"

Rose sighed, standing and crossing her arms as she peered over his shoulder at the monitor. "We've seen loads of supernovas, though; you know how they work."

"But this _isn't_ a supernova, it's just behaving like one," he replied thinly.

Rose grinned, knowing she was starting to wind him up. "So why is this superno-"

"It's NOT a supernova!" the Doctor glared at her over his glasses.

Rose tried to keep a straight face, staring at him innocently. She glanced at the monitor again, reaching for the controls. "What does this one do-"

"Alright!" the Doctor exclaimed in a pressed tone, grabbing Rose's arms and pinning them to her sides before she could do any damage. "I understand. You're bored. This doesn't interest you. But I've never, in 900 years, _ever_ seen anything like this. _Please_, just go and find something to entertain yourself. The scans are almost half-way finished anyway."

Rose stared at him. "But we've been here for _hours_!"

"Rose, I don't think you-" a beeping noise from the console distracted him, and he turned to inspect it. "Oh, look at that! That's interesting..."

Rose doubted that whatever was making the noise was that interesting, and headed glumly out of the control room. She wandered aimlessly down the corridors, looking for something to amuse herself with. Or annoy the Doctor. Preferably both of those things. The TARDIS seemed to approve of her idea, because soon she found herself in front of a large cupboard she had never seen before. She opened the door cautiously, not knowing what mysteries – possibly dangerous mysteries – could be concealed within.

She relaxed – it was filled with seemingly random holiday paraphernalia. Buckets and spades, a giant inflatable rubber duck, deckchairs, skis, and what seemed to be an ancient deep-sea diver's suit were identifiable among the clutter and debris. Rose grinned to herself, and began gathering armfuls of the holiday items.

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The Doctor frowned at the results on his screen, and hit the side of the monitor in frustration. What was this? This made no sense. There were suddenly spikes in his readings, showing the sudden introduction of foreign substances to the star: rubber, plastics, wood, metal, paper? What was going on?

The sound of a stifled giggle finally made him look up from the monitor.

Rose was sat at the open doorway, her legs dangling into the empty abyss, with a pile of his favourite holiday items next to her. He watched her throw a paper aeroplane and his skis out of the door and watched them float away towards the star, disintegrating as they went. She picked up his giant inflatable duck and he knew he had to step in.

"What are you doing to my stuff?" he accused, rushing over to her and grabbing his duck, hugging it possessively.

Rose couldn't help the guffaw that escaped at the sight of his furious expression. "I'm... amusing myself."

"You're throwing my stuff into a supernova!"

Rose raised a questioning eyebrow. "You said it wasn't a supernova!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it, turning to stalk back to the console, still hugging the rubber duck.

"Well you've completely messed up my readings. I'm going to have to recalibrate the sensors to compensate for your little game, and I'll have to start the scan all over again."

Rose scowled at him, and picked up the armful of things left beside her and threw them out of the door, before stomping off back into the TARDIS again.

The Doctor turned back to his monitor and sighed. Recalibrating the sensors. That meant going under the floor. He threw his duck down on the floor beside him and bent down to pull up the hatch. This was going to take a while.

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A couple of hours later, the Doctor was still under the floor, drowning in a mass of wires and cables. What had started off as a simple recalibration had turned into an entire rewiring. His lips pressed into a smile as he thought of how long this would take – Rose would be so annoyed!

A wave of warm air made its way through the TARDIS to the control room and engulfed him in a heavenly smell. Bananas, sugar, bread... baking?

His stomach grumbled traitorously as the Time Lord tried to ignore the scent and continue with the rewiring. The TARDIS kept spitting sparks at him, trying to assure him that her sensors didn't _need_ rewiring, but he ignored her, until eventually she shocked him, making him recoil and see silver for a moment.

"Fine, you don't need this, I get it," he mumbled under his breath. He climbed out and stretched, taking in that wonderful smell again. Rose must be baking. He didn't even know she could bake.

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Rose could not bake. The kitchen was an absolute disaster, and her hair was highlighted with flour. Yet, somehow, with the help of the TARIDS, she had managed to put together several banana flavoured treats. The ventilation was on high and she knew that the smell would soon reach the Doctor.

She grinned as the door opened and the Doctor rushed in, trying to look nonchalant but failing as his hungry eyes scoured the banana bread, banana pancakes and banoffee pie on the counter.

"Did you make those?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I did." Rose slapped his arm with a floury wooden spoon and shifted slightly to hide a part of the counter that she'd accidentally burned.

"Oh, perfect timing, Rose, I'm starved!" He beamed at her, rushing forward to get a plate.

Rose held him back. "I thought your scans were far too important for any interruptions."

The Doctor stared at her but his eyes slowly wandered back to the pancakes. "Well, yeah, but everyone's gotta eat, Rose."

Rose nodded, and grinned, pushing in front of him. "That's true, Doctor. So you'd better make yourself some lunch."

The Doctor's shoulders visibly fell. "What? You can't eat all that to yourself!"

"Neither could you!"

"I could!" he argued stubbornly.

Rose passed him a plate and leaned back against the counter. "Go on then, I dare you!"

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Rose stared in disgust, feeling slightly ill, as the Doctor finished off the last of the banoffee pie. Three empty plates lay in front of him. He sat back in his chair and stretched, a contented Cheshire grin on his face.

"That was great, Rose. You should open a bakery."

Rose smirked. "You mean, go home?"

The Doctor's grin fell from his face. "Maybe not." That was a sensitive topic, and he wondered just how they had managed to bring it up. His eyes found their way up to hers, and watched with piercing intensity as a faint blush spread over her cheeks.

He stood up abruptly, pushing his chair back and heading out of the kitchen. "And now, on with the scans!"

Rose followed him. "I have to say, Doctor, I didn't think you were going to finish that. I'm impressed."

"Thank you!"

"And slightly disgusted."

"Hey!"

They found their way back to the control room, and the Doctor took his place at the monitor, leaning with both hands against the console, breathing heavily. Rose gently touched his arm.

"Are you okay?"

He was turning slightly green. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He pressed a few buttons near the monitor, then stopped to burp.

"Uhm... maybe... you know what, maybe you're right," he said loudly. "Enough scans for one day. Let's go somewhere. Somewhere nice, somewhere warm. I know!" he rambled quickly. "Polaris Four, an amazing planet, its summers are to die for!"

He quickly – very quickly – plotted a course and dragged the TARDIS into the time vortex.

Rose grinned at him. "So what's there?"

"Oh, all sorts," the Doctor enthused between deep breaths. "Three-headed dragons that blast clouds of pink vapour, purple oceans with singing whales, and best of all, Blotchen, Blotchen & Sons."

"What's a Blotchen?" Rose frowned, her concern growing as she heard a worrying gurgle emanating from the Time Lord's stomach.

"Blotchen, Blotchen & Sons," he corrected in a subdued voice, balking slightly. "Brilliant pharmacy. Inventors of the strongest indigestion tablets this side of the galaxy."

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Ten minutes later, the Doctor was laid out on a bed in the exotic pharmacy, being ordered by a green alien to swallow three large red pills. Rose grinned at him as the pharmacist left them.

"Serves you right, really, doesn't it."

The Doctor burped, and groaned. "Just you wait, Rose Marion Tyler, I'll get my own back."

Rose laughed. "I'd like to see you try!"

Despite his condition, the Doctor raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Was that a dare?"

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_A/N: Thank you for reading; I'd love to hear what you think. Look out for chapter two!_


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